Ting Xiong said she read through piles of documents as an international student from China.
“We are not a permanent people here,” the mathematics graduate student said.
“We heard that it will be a lot of work to be here before we came.”
And with the Michigan Secretary of State tightening standards for issuing driver’s licenses and state ID cards, temporary U.S. residents could find it more difficult to enjoy having their own wheels to cruise around in.
Secretary of State Candice Miller announced her plan Monday to fully support President Bush’s initiative to impose more restrictions on issuing IDs.
Miller supports a bill requiring a visa or proof of citizenship when applying for a driver’s license. The Secretary of State offices do not ask for documentation of citizenship currently but the state House has passed the bill.
For now it is stalled in the state Senate.
“We want to make sure that we’re not contributing to the problem,” Secretary of State spokeswoman Elizabeth Boyd said.
But people entering the country know having their own vehicle is a must for a driver’s license.
“I don’t have the money for a car,” Xiong said, but she added that the paperwork wouldn’t stop her from getting a license if she saved enough to pay for one.
The additional regulations on receiving a driver’s license is nothing new.
Michigan has been implementing stricter regulations since 2000, when three pieces of ID began to be required for driver’s licenses.
Foreign documentation also must be translated to English before brought to state offices.
Boyd said she did not expect international students to run into any problems with finding a translating service or receiving their IDs.
“Quite frankly, I would expect that most students studying here could speak some English,” Boyd said.
“It is not meant to be a deterrent to people,” she said. “We have an obligation to ensure that people are who they say they are before we issue identification.”
This is another step in a series of tighter international regulations implemented in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, said Peter Briggs, director of the Office for International Students and Scholars.
“We’re seeing a lot of new rules from all sides on anti-terrorist actions,” he said. “We have adjusted to them and we’ll adjust to this, too.”
Since MSU international students are residing in the country legally for a period of time on visas, it isn’t yet known if they will have problems cutting through the Secretary of State’s red tape.
“We don’t know how draconian the regulations will get,” he said.
“They should be able to provide something about their legal status in the states.”
